Arcanum Sanctum

Arcanum Sanctum is a Russian melodic death metal band formed on October 10th, 2004 in Komsomolsk-on-Amur by guitarist Vadim "Sad" Nalivaiko and vocalist Alexander "Marius" Maltzev. Although, in the winter of 2004, Marius had left the band in order to form the symphonic black metal project Requiem Aternam. Arcanum Sanctum would then recruit Kirill "Kirk" Kulinitchev (an old friend and former bandmate of Sad) as bassist and vocalist.

By the summer of 2005, the band recorded the Ignis Fatuus demo. the release of which was undertaken by the Ukrainian label De Profundis prod. Two songs from this demo are included in underground metal compilations Chern’ 3 (De Profundis prod.) и Zlorechie 1 (De Profundis prod.). Due to the carelessness of the label, the tracklist on the cover for the Zlorechie 1 compilation does not correspond to the actual succession of bands listed on the disk. Right afterwards, Arcanum Sanctum broke with this lacking in conscientiousness from the label. The further fate of this demo is still unknown. Meanwhile, drummer Vyacheslav "Skaarikh" Vasilenko (from Requiem Aternam) joined the band, which then started performing at local festivals, along with composing new material.

In the autumn of 2006, Kirk left Arcanum Sanctum for reasons private. Anatoly Kobylin (from Forgot) was recruited into the band as a replacement. After instrumentalization was completed, the recording of Fidus Achates album began, which was dragged out almost for three years. Due to the trial-and-error method, the band recorded the material after the third try. The first try reveal the unsuitability of Skaarikh for drumming was dismissed (he is now drumming for Forgot and Evilwinged). The lineup of the third record's session consisted of Sad on vocals & guitars, Viktor Reshetnikov on drums and Anatoly Kobylin on bass. As the recording of the album was in progress, Anatoly, who has already joined the band by the moment, began impeding the process. During the mixing of the record things came up to absurdity. As a result, Sad breaks up with Anatoly, who later impudently provides the unmixed material along with the Ignis Fatuus demo (which was not his business at all) for downloading to the Internet. Recorded material was sent to Moscow for mixing and mastering at Navaho Hut studio. Arcanum Sanctum signed a release deal for the album, finished in January of 2009, with More Hate Prod. The material presented on Fidus Achates and composed generally by Sad with assistance of Kirk, is a mixture of melodic death and thrash metal. The band currently keeps on working in this direction.